When to start GUE Fundamental Skills course ?

[Roger Hobden]

Navigating on ScubaBoard on the past few weeks I read a lot of positive comments about the GUE Fundamental Skills course and how it can do wonders concerning trim, buoyancy, and other key aspects of diving.

I would like to know at what stage in a beginner's diver experience would it be really pertinent and profitable to attend such a course ?

After a few dozen dives ? Or after a hundred dives, or more?

Also, I understand that they have very specific recommendations about the gear you need to have to attend the course.

This is OK for me, as I have always rented my gear up till now, so these recommendations will help me decide what kind of gear I look to purchase in the near future.

For instance, a dive shop in my area sells the XDEEP Ghost BC, so I will enquire to find out if I can rent this equipment before deciding to buy.

Thanks in advance to any and all recommandations.

 

[divad]

After a few dozen dives ? Or after a hundred dives, or more?

After a few dozen dives.

 

[Lorenzoid]

In my opinion, it is never too soon to take the GUE Fundamentals (affectionately referred to as "Fundies") course. Were you aware that GUE actually offers their own version of the basic OW course? In that course, they teach students with no prior diving experience at all to not only dive but dive the GUE way--that is, everything that is covered in Fundies. If they can teach someone with no prior diving experience at all, then they can teach students who have only done a few dozen dives.

For the course, you will need to use the GUE gear configuration: Equipment Configuration | Global Underwater Explorers

Ideally, you would already be at least somewhat comfortable using the equipment configuration when you begin the Fundies course. So, I would recommend either acquiring the equipment or making arrangements to borrow some for the course. Some people, myself included, begin Fundies with essentially no familiarity with the GUE equipment configuration. This is not optimal, but it is certainly acceptable. Something to keep in mind about Fundies is that the instructor does not expect students to know anything beyond the basics taught in their OW course--the whole point of Fundies is to teach a way of diving that may be completely new to you.

I recommend contacting a GUE instructor and discussing your goals and needs before doing anything else: GUE Instructors | Global Underwater Explorers If you have questions about the equipment, ask the instructor before purchasing anything.

The most important thing is to have fun! It's a great course, even if you ultimately decide diving the GUE way is not for you.

 

[chrisch]

It's never too soon or too late. The equipment is a requirement not a recommendation. It is a particular way of doing things and - good as it is - it is somewhat weighted towards cave diving. One possibility depending on where you are is to try a discover GUE day. These are inexpensive and let you get a feel for that discipline without a strict gear requirement.

I have done one of these and found it very useful and would recommend it to anyone that cares about being competent in the water. The idea is to persuade you onto the fundamentals course but it is not a hard sell with a view to profit, more a PR exercise. You will get a lot of very valuable feedback and get to meet the GUE people in your area. You will be in a much better position to make your decision at that point.

 

[LordElrond]

For instance, a dive shop in my area sells the XDEEP Ghost BC, so I will enquire to find out if I can rent this equipment before deciding to buy.

Iirc the Ghost isn't a normal bp and wing and it's al only. If you are looking at xdeep I suggest you to try the NX plate, I have it with a zeos wing and I find it better designed than the normal one.

In my opinion, it is never too soon to take the GUE Fundamentals (affectionately referred to as "Fundies") course. Were you aware that GUE actually offers their own version of the basic OW course? In that course, they teach students with no prior diving experience at all to not only dive but dive the GUE way--that is, everything that is covered in Fundies. If they can teach someone with no prior diving experience at all, then they can teach students who have only done a few dozen dives.

For the course, you will need to use the GUE gear configuration: Equipment Configuration | Global Underwater Explorers

Ideally, you would already be at least somewhat comfortable using the equipment configuration when you begin the Fundies course. So, I would recommend either acquiring the equipment or making arrangements to borrow some for the course. Some people, myself included, begin Fundies with essentially no familiarity with the GUE equipment configuration. This is not optimal, but it is certainly acceptable. Something to keep in mind about Fundies is that the instructor does not expect students to know anything beyond the basics taught in their OW course--the whole point of Fundies is to teach a way of diving that may be completely new to you.

I recommend contacting a GUE instructor and discussing your goals and needs before doing anything else: GUE Instructors | Global Underwater Explorers If you have questions about the equipment, ask the instructor before purchasing anything.

The most important thing is to have fun! It's a great course, even if you ultimately decide diving the GUE way is not for you.

I don't have experience about doing a Fundamentals, but I can tell that r1 is not equivalent of a Fundamentals + open... There's a part of experience and comfort in water that even the best instruction cannot replicate.

I'd do it as soon as I was comfortable being underwater... 30 dives or so!

 

[Roger Hobden]

Thank for for the feedback ! Much appreciated !

 

[elgoog]

Good advice above, I'll add a couple of things from my experience.

- Talk to your instructor of choice and also consider doing only Fundies part 1 now. My wife and I did it together and she's more than content with what she learned there and doesn't feel the need to do the rest. I did full Fundies later but you learn a lot just from part 1 and maybe that's sufficient for you now based on what your goals are. You can always do more training later.
- Go into the class looking to learn, not pass. You'll get a crap ton out of it no matter what - read about my experience here. I've since moved to diving doubles in a drysuit and aiming for a tech pass to move on to tech/cave but Fundies 1 was what had the most visible, perceivable and dramatic change in my diving and overall fun in the water.
- As far as equipment, contact your instructor and local GUE community as well. Discover GUE days are awesome but there are many who will lend you gear for the class. You don't have to make a big monetary commitment buying stuff immediately.

 

[divad]

Go to:

allaboutscuba.com

He's close-ish to Montreal. He's also a great instructor.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Please, please, please take GUE fundies as soon as you can. You've got enough dives (between 25-49).

If I could go back in time, I would have had Peter Rothschild as my OW/AOW instructor and I would have taken GUE fundies not long after.

The biggest mistake I made was not taking GUE fundies earlier. I took it after close to 400 dives.

 

[guruboy]

Passing fundies is only needed if you plan to go cave or tech.

You could benefit a lot from just hiring the instructor for some private lesson dives as well.

I agree that taking just Funies part 1 first is a good idea, rather than just jumping into a full fundies course.